


Day 5: Christmas Tree

by Sang_argente



Series: 25 Days of Fic [5]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 08:25:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2725628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sang_argente/pseuds/Sang_argente
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laying the popcorn string down on the table, he stood and made his way over to his lover. He laid a hand on Peter's arm and squeezed lightly, sighing when Peter didn't immediately jerk away. Dragging the hand down until it was sliding against Peter's, he twined their fingers together slowly and said, “You could help me if you want.”</p>
<p>Peter looked down at their tangled fingers and then up at Stiles's face. “Yeah?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Stiles smiled, leaning forward to peck Peter on the lips. “It'll be fun.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day 5: Christmas Tree

There comes a time in every relationship where one person has to be honest and admit, at least to themselves, that the other person might be a bit...strange. Not in a bad way, exactly. Just in a way obvious enough that the person might think to themselves _wow, I picked a strange one._

Peter had reached that time.

He'd been on his way home from running erands, ready for a hot shower and lots of sleep, when he caught sight of Stiles's jeep parked in front of Derek's apartment building. Thinking this was strange, considering he knew Derek was out of town with his Betas, Peter had decided to pull in and see what his young lover was up to. Hopefully, it wouldn't be something that turned his nephew's wrath onto him.

It hadn't taken any time at all for him to go up from the parking lot to Derek's loft. In fact, he was spending twice that much time standing in the doorway, eyes caught on Stiles.

This was it.

Before he could even think about stopping himself, the words slid right out of his mouth. "I've had some lovers with peculiar habits, but this beats them all."

Stiles scoffed at Peter, not bothering to look up from where he was carefully stringing popcorn onto bright white thread. "If this is the strangest thing you've seen, you've had some pretty boring relationships."

Stepping completely into the loft, Peter shut the door and moved over to the couch where Stiles had set his station up. A large plastic bowl in the most hideous shade of yellow known to man took up most of the coffee table, barely holding what seemed to be all the popcorn in Beacon Hills. Three spools of thread, scissors, and an extra needle sat next to the bowl.

"What exactly are you doing?"

Stiles paused and squinted up at Peter, his expression clearly saying he thought Peter was a bit strange for _not_ wanting to sit around and push a tiny needle through greasy popcorn. His voice was slow and disbelieving when he answered, "I'm stringing popcorn."

"I can see that," Peter waved a hand over the supplies, then crossed his arms over his chest. "What's it for?"

"I'm going to put it on the Christmas tree," Stiles answered. "That's what you _do_ with popcorn strings."

"What Christmas tree?" Peter asked, confused. He knew that Stiles and his father didn't decorate for the holidays and he damn sure didn't have a Christmas tree in his apartment.

Stiles raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. Following his gesture, Peter turned towards the large window and froze.

It was the largest Christmas tree Peter had ever seen in person. Honestly, it hardly looked real because it was the perfect shade of green with even limbs. If it hadn't been for the light airy scent of evergreens, Peter wouldn't believe it _was_ real. It was half-decorated with strings of lights twined around it, but there wasn't any ornaments.

"Amazing," he said quietly, watching closely as the multicolored lights chased each other around the tree, blue and red twinkling merrily right after orange and pink. "You brought this up here?"

"What, like it's hard?" Stiles rolled his eyes and looked back down at the popcorn, picking up a piece and carefully threading it onto the string. He did this a few more times, slow and cautious, before continuing his words. "I used the elevator and that nice old man from the third floor helped me carry it into the loft."

"And the lights?"

A light blush spread over Stiles's cheeks, but he still didn't look up from his work. "I admit that took about...two hours longer than it should have. There were a lot of complications."

"I see," Peter said quietly, turning back to look at the tree again. It really was beautiful and Peter knew it would only look better when Stiles finally finished. "You'll put the popcorn up next?"

Stiles nodded. "Then the ornaments. They're just a collection of whatever I could find in this shop or that one. I thought it would be more fun than plain glass baubles."

"You're right."

Looking up at the suddenly rough tone of voice, Stiles frowned and asked, "You think so?"

"I know so," Peter said, nodding. His eyes were bright with a dark emotion and he looked a bit tenser than usual, but Stiles refrained from comment. "Talia was always big on family ornaments. The one Christmas Laura begged for a 'normal' tree, my sister wouldn't even walk into the den. She said it hurt too much to see our traditions being wasted."

Stiles bit his lip and fought for something, anything, to say. It was rare for Peter to mention anything from before the fire and when he did it always caught Stiles off guard. Even after almost eight months together, Peter was overly careful with what he said about his family.

Laying the popcorn string down on the table, he stood and made his way over to his lover. He laid a hand on Peter's arm and squeezed lightly, sighing when Peter didn't immediately jerk away. Dragging the hand down until it was sliding against Peter's, he twined their fingers together slowly and said, "You could help me if you want."

Peter looked down at their tangled fingers and then up at Stiles's face. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Stiles smiled, leaning forward to peck Peter on the lips. "It'll be fun."

"I do have a few of Talia's old ornaments at my apartment," Peter confessed, leaning into Stiles's body heat. "I could run over there and get them."

"I'll be here," Stiles promised before smiling sheepishly. "Stringing popcorn."

Chuckling, Peter returned Stiles's kiss and pulled away. "I'll be back as soon as I can. We don't have that much time before Derek and the Betas get back from wherever they went."

Stiles had already returned to the couch and started stringing popcorn with renewed vigor. "Seattle. They'll be back tomorrow night, so we'll have plenty of time to finish the tree but that doesn't mean you shouldn't hurry."

"Oh? Have plans do you?"

"Maybe you'll find out if you hurry."

-x-x-x-x-x-

The following night, Derek called to say they were just outside Beacon Hills and he wanted everyone to meet at the loft for an update. Stiles debated not going just to avoid having to watch Derek's eyebrows do that thing where they weren't sure if they were elated or furious and just sort of wiggled in place. In the end, he decided he couldn't miss out on everyone's reactions.

"What." Derek said flatly, staring at the tree.

"Oh, wow, Derek!" Erica said excitedly, bouncing into the loft with Isaac on her heels, just as amazed. "You didn't say you were putting up a tree. Oooh, look at all those cute ornaments!"

Stiles flushed heavily when her words caused Peter to have to smother a laugh, watching as the rest of the pack crowded around the tree as well.

"It's a bit strange," Lydia said, eyeing the tree. She tapped a perfectly manicured finger against her lips, humming while she thought. "The strangest thing is how well it looks despite its seeming chaos."

Erica ooh-ed and ah-ed over every single ornament, pointing this one and that one out to Isaac and Boyd while Scott did the same thing on the other side to Allison.

"Oh, wow! Is that a real wolf tooth?"

Derek whipped his head from the tree to Peter and back to the tree. "Show me."

"That one there," Scott pointed, careful not to touch it in fear of ruining the tree.

Grunting, Derek nodded. "It's real."

What he neglected to say was that he knew it was real because it was _his_ tooth. It was one of the many that had been knocked out during his childhood, but this one was special because it had come out on his very first Christmas morning. It was common for werewolf children to lose teeth at an earlier age than humans, but his mother had still insisted on taking the tooth and making a sort of 'Derek's first Christmas' ornament out of it. And there was only one person who could have known that.

He looked over at Peter and raised an eyebrow, satisfaction rolling over him when his uncle and Stiles both turned away quickly. "I wonder who could've found that."

Everyone started talking about who might have put the tree together but Derek was too focused on the couple standing off to the side to offer his own suggestions. After a few moments of awkward staring, Stiles finally turned and smiled at him, whispering softly.

"Merry Christmas, Derek."

**Author's Note:**

> Want to see a winter/holiday themed prompt filled for a different pairing or even a different fandom? Drop it into my ask box [here.](http://stilesthesasswolf.tumblr.com)


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